Miragoâne
]] Miragoâne (Kreyol: Miragwan) is a market town in and the principal city of the Miragoâne Arrondissement of Haiti. The 2015 census recorded a population 62,528, making it Haiti's second least populated capital city. As part of the Nippes Department and its capital, it is a main port of second-hand imports from Miami. At the port, merchants purchase imports and vend them at Miragoâne street stalls. Miragoâne is the homeland of General Brice. He was one of the most intrepid generals of the republic, enlightened, advanced, and the hope of his country. About This town, built at the extremity of a point, on an accidental soil of calcareous massifs, and whose growth has been very rapid since 1812, was at first only a landing-place, for the commodities of the island, for the old parish of Fond de Negres; it then became a village. The first pier was located at Trou-Mouton, a league from Miragoâne. It is to the permission granted to the foreign commerce to make there to dock its ships, that this city has of its extension which has moved beyond the limits of the sea. In 1820, the census of the population of the city alone had produced 300 inhabitants, in 1841 1,500; and in 1861 2,000. At the time of the 1883 uprising, the city had 4,000 inhabitants. History When Miragoane was founded as a third class commune, it contained six rural sections; 1st Dufour, 2nd Belle-Riviere, 3rd Lescaille, 4th Fond des-Negres, 5th Four-de- Rochelois, and 6th de Rochelois. The town was founded by English during the 17th century on the coast of a well-protected bay. The name Miragoâne comes from Miraguano, the name given by the Taíno people to the Étang de Miragoâne, the second largest lake of Haiti; the town is near the lake. The name of the city comes from the first Spanish Europeans who named it because of the presence of iguanas (iguana) that were there. During a civil war in 1883, the town was destroyed. The history of Miragoâne port, among the largest natural ports of the globe, was as a gathering place for the Spanish when the island was called Hispaniola. Eventually the French chased them out. Formerly, it had been conceived the project of digging a canal which would lead from Acul du Petit Goâve to the Étang for the transport of goods to this part. The military post of Miragoâne is on the banks of this lake. The poet A.F. Battier sings Miragoâne, having been in charge of the national school for some time. - A young Haitian diplomat, said somewhere: "After all, I love my glorious rock of Miragoâne as much as the sumptuous rooms of Buckingham Palace, Élysée or Escurial". • On the 3rd of May, 1800, at the retirement of the army of Riguad, Pétion, on the bridge, stood up to Dessalines, who forced his way through the mountains and rounded the lake on the 16th. Pétion had to retreat to Miragoâne. • On May 16, 1800, while Riguad's army retreated to the south, this general only entered Miragoâne, which he abandoned the same day. Colonel Faubert nailed the pieces and delivered the city to the flames. Most of the farmers of this district, fatigued with civil war, did not follow the army of the South. The 17th of Dessalines entered Miragoâne , while his hunters gave the alarm to Saint-Michel. He had all the brigadiers of that city slaughtered in August. • In December 1802, the Belle-Rivière militia, still loyal to the French, was composed largely of men of color, mostly owners. An officer of color, Bellegarde Boudain, put himself at his head to reinforce the French garrison of the Miragoâne Bridge, which the insurgents of the West threatened to force. A witness of the crimes to which the French were indulging, he resolved to rise. Bellegarde approached Miragoâne without difficulty, the European garrison not suspecting its project. Miragoâne was commanded by a black man Pierre Viallet, a cruel enemy of his brothers. Bellegarde, took him without a shot, seized the ammunition, abandoning it, and retreated to the Torchon habitation. • In January 1803, Geffrard took Miragoâne over from the French. • At the announcement of the events that led to the split in the south, President Petion dispatched General Delva and Gedeon with 1,500 troops to the south. Riguad, learning the defection of the 1st regiment in his favor summoned Delva and Gedeon to withdraw. They retreated on November 24, 1810 to the Miragoâne Bridge. Pétion arrived at the bridge on December 1, 1810. The lake separated his army from that of Riguad. The following day an interview took place on the bridge: an offensive and defensive concordat was concluded against the North. • On January 29, 1812, Bellamin, leader of the revolt aboard the Arthemise or Amethysle, Christophe's warship, went to the republic and was going to anchor at Miragoane. • The coffee houses Faure and Masson of this town were put up for sale by the law of March 10, 1814 to raise the culture and increase the number of owners. • Citizen Doret was the first representative of the commune of Miragoâne at the first House of Commons in 1817, of which he was one of the secretaries. • The legal distance from this commune to the capital is fixed by the law of April 25, 1817, and that of November 20, 1821, is 23 leagues. General Legitime, in his program of government, proposed the creation of a railroad from Miragoane to Aquin. • During the revolution of Cacos in 1868-69, Miragoâne was successively controlled by the Cacos and Piquets; the city was bombed by them one day from them since 9 pm, sacked, and finally delivered to the flames. Siffra, the leader of the pickets committed all kinds of depredation. • The city was burned on November 24, 1866, in 1878, and almost completely destroyed during the Boyer Bazelais uprising in 1883. • On March 27, 1883, Boyer Bazelais and a hundred of his friends, exiles like him in Kingston, seized by surprise the city. The troops sent against them by the government surrounded them. After a struggle of nearly a year the rebels all perished from hunger, sickness and deprivation and fatigue, and succumbed on January 9, 1884. Boyer Bazelais died there October 27, 1883. The sick and infirm found in Miragoâne were excecuted without mercy. Some, unable to receive death standing, being too weak, were seated. • Fort Brice, defended by eight men in 1883, resisted General Henri Piquant's attack on August 22. Piquant, injured, went to Port-au-Prince. • In 1898, L. Gentil Tippenhauer published in Gotha a study on the geological region of Miragoâne. • On June 12, 1918, the population voted the constitution by 922 yes votes. • At the meeting of July 30, 1923 of the Council of State, the Minister of Finance Mac-Guffie tabled a bill requesting that the ports of Aquin, Miragoâne, Môle Saint-Nicolas, and Fort-Liberté became ports of scale at the request of the Financial Adviser, from October 1. Geography According to the IHSI, the commune has a land area of 185.87 square kilometers (71.76 square miles), of which 110.98 sq.km (60%) is rural, 71.11 sq.km (38%) is suburban, and 3.78 sq.km (2%) is urban. The city lies on the north coast of the Tiburon Peninsula, along the Gonâve canal and in particular the Miragoâne Bay. One kilometer southeast is Lake Miragoâne, one of Haiti's largest freshwater lakes. Miragoâne, ringed by mountains, is protected by Ile Gonâve, which lies above it on an inlet of the Caribbean Sea. During its early history, gold was discovered and mined there. Miragoâne had six communal sections (now four) and had three districts, two of which are now independent towns. Only the city is coastal, the rest of the commune, i.e. the districts and the communal sections are inland. The inhabitants are called Miragoanais. Miragoâne is the only commercial city in Haiti where landing on the pier is possible. Large ships anchor at 25 feet of land, and move back and forth by means of two spars and some planks. Loading and unloading are done with extreme ease. From the town of Fond-Douze to the waters of Duparc, which crosses the Saint-Michel Road, the town is surrounded by cotton-growing land. Pyramid flint. The plain is 40 kilometers square. Demographics Economy Today, Miragoâne, one of the main Haitian trading ports, ranks as the number three biggest port along the southern-eastern part of the Caribbean Sea. Shipments of manufactured goods from the United States pass through the Miragoâne docks. Haiti exports its coffee, its fruits and its wood by this same port. During the rule of Jean-Claude Duvalier, the port was shut down. Affected by its closing, the region's economy suffered and unemployment is very high now as elsewhere on the region. Port facilities were also used by Reynolds Metals Company of the United States, which specializes in aluminum and exports of bauxite from Haiti. This company left the Haitian territory leaving behind large infrastructure, including a deep-water port that replaced in 2010 the former civilian port of the town. The city is also endowed with tobacco crops. Asphalt and oil were also found in Miragoane. The municipality has nine hotels, nine restaurants, a bank, three Caisses populaires and a marketing cooperative. Agriculture and livestock, trade, and fishing are the main economic activities of the inhabitants of the commune. The majority of the inhabitants work in Port-au-Prince and La Gonâve. Miragoane moved an average of 2,500,000 pounds of coffee per year, 1,000 tons of campeche and 200,000 pounds of cotton. Miragoâne receives goods from the districts of Nippes, Léogâne and Aquin. The port, one of the most beautiful in Haiti, has been open to foreign commerce since the 21st of April, 1807, and receives annually, on average, 50 sailing ships taking charge, and little or no steamers. Its harbor offers shelter to larger ships. Its waters are calm and deep. It was closed on December 17, 1808, April 25, 1826, September 27, 1836, October 2, 1849. Reopened September 20, 1831 and 1844, and in 1860. At the entrance emerges a shady and fresh island, the Frégate, which serves as a stroll destination on Sundays; this island has 2 large branched trees. Infrastructure ]] Miragoâne residents have managed to build its infrastructure in the areas of education and basic services. Cleanliness is important to them. Bi-weekly, about two dozen members of the community pick up trash clotting the streets of the city. Desiring to make the capital more attractive, the community is willing to toil under heat and humidity for many hours. They bring with them gardening tools to remake the streets and roads more traversable. The people of Miragoâne struggle to make their city a model of cleanliness and provide necessary services to the community. Transportation The side roads are generally bad. Education The Ministry of the National Education for Youth and Sports is represented in the municipality by the departmental management of Nippes. Six Kindergarten, several primary schools including private and public, and 20 secondary schools were counted in the commune. There is a technical and professional school and several Literacy Centers. Health The Ministry of Public Health and Population is represented in the commune by the sanitary Coordination of Nippes. There is a hospital, two health centers and nine clinics. Utilities The city suffers from the obsolescence of its electrical installations as well as for the distribution of drinking water. With respect to water resources, the municipality has seven rivers, eleven Springs, a pond and ten public fountains. Only the city of Miragoâne is electrified. The frequency of electrical power is 77 hours per week. The municipality also has a sanitation service. After the devastating earthquake of January 2010, a new electricity grid was set up with the installation of individual meters to change the "energy-consuming" habits of the inhabitants. Administration and Security At the administrative and judicial level, the municipality of Miragoâne has a police station and two peace courts. However, there is no prison, but a police room. The Peace Court is under the jurisdiction of the Civil Court of l'Anse-à-Veau. In 1887, it rendered 129 judgements. Culture Religion Concerning religion, the municipality has twelve Catholic churches (including chapels), six Adventist churches, two churches of God, three halls of the Kingdom of the Witnesses of Jehovah and 17 other churches (3 churches of Jesus, 10 churches of Salvation Army and 4 Nazarene churches). The lodge of Orient de Miragoane, belonging to the Grand Orient of Haiti, is entitled: Les Eleves de la Nature No.20. ]] Communication The municipality has a postal service, three radio stations, and a television station. The post arrives from Port-au-Prince on Sunday. From there the couriers leave, one for Aquin, passing by Saint-Michel with the letters for the other communes of the borough of Les Cayes; the other mail for L'Anse-à-Veau up to Jérémie with the letters destined for the communes of the districts of Nippes, Grand Anse and Tiburon. The two couriers return on Thursday to Port-au-Prince and points north. Leisure As for leisure, the municipality has a library, a Theatre room, six night clubs, eight Gaguères and a public square. In Miragoâne , the following sports are practiced: football (soccer), basketball, judo and karate. In terms of cultural heritage, the town has a historical site and a cave. Organizations The municipality of Miragoâne has two political parties, two Popular organizations and 17 NGOs. Sites The forts Mallet, HIbbert, Reflechi, Lacroix, Nemorin. Rampart, Benjamin, the Carenage, the Spanish spring, the Circle or Detour, the Source Salee, the Miragone Bridge and the Etang Saint Michel du Fond des Negres and some houses are the only places to visit in the town. L'église Saint-Jean-Baptiste, in neo-Gothic style, dates from the nineteenth century. Le Fort Réfléchi (English: The Thoughtful Fort), designated to warn of possible enemies. The forts Mallet, Hibbert, Lacroix, Némorin. Rampart, Benjamin, le Carénage, la source espagnole, Cercle (Détour), la Source Salée, le Pont de Miragoane, and l'Etang de Saint-Michel are some of the places to visit in the commune. Neighborhoods mg14.jpg|Welcome to Miragoâne ChezmaTante2.jpg|Fresh food mg11.jpg|Miragoâne Harbor mg2.jpg mg10.jpg References / Links "C'est moi qui l'dis" - http://congolivier.blogspot.com/2009/12/nwel-nan-mornes-1-grand-boucan.html Michael Vedrine Category:Nippes Category:Miragoâne Arrondissement